1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to infrared communication. More specifically, the invention is an infrared communication system that is easily tested and reconfigurable to work in a variety of applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Infrared communication to and from remotely located devices is prevalent in many fields. Typically, infrared communication links are used to minimize disturbances along conventional interface wiring, to minimize the amount of physical bulk of conventional wiring, and/or to minimize electronics noise which can accompany other forms of wireless communication such as radio frequency (RF) communication. Accordingly, new and better infrared transceivers are constantly being made available.
In order to evaluate possible advantages of the latest infrared transceiver technology, it is desirable to test transmission/reception protocol with existing remotely-located devices. Ideally, such testing would be controlled from a user interface such as a personal computer. Further, the system for testing and/or controlling an infrared transceiver should be easily reconfigurable to adapt to the latest infrared transceiver technology.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an infrared communication system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an reconfigurable infrared communication system.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an infrared communication system that is easily tested.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious hereinafter in the specification and drawings.
In accordance with the present invention, an infrared communication system includes a RAM-based programmable logic device (PLD) having a configuration port over which configuration instructions are received. The RAM-based PLD further has first and second input/output (I/O) ports. An erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) and/or a data input device is coupled to the configuration port to provide the configuration instructions at power up of the RAM-based PLD. A clock is coupled to the RAM-based PLD to supply a clock signal thereto. Another data input device is coupled to the first I/O port of the RAM-based PLD. An infrared transceiver is coupled to the second I/O port of the RAM-based PLD. The RAM-based PLD uses the clock signal to synchronize data transfer between the data input device coupled to the first I/O port and the infrared transceiver through the RAM-based PLD.